A savvy entrepreneurial independent retailer, Adeil Hussain, One Stop franchisee from Motherwell in Scotland has kept his business ahead of the curve by developing a smart online offer for customers. This now makes up 25% of his turnover and has helped him grow his business by over 100% in just three years.
Adeil found One Stop’s range offers competitive in the market. The flexibility offered gave him the ability to partner with Snappy Shopper to serve the everyday needs of his customers. Working with Snappy Shopper has attracted, not only customers that are further away from his shop who may never have shopped there due to distance, but also customers more local to the store have used the platform too. Because of its convenience it’s been a great tool during the pandemic.
“One Stop has got fantastic offers and the products have worked so well. We simply add a £3 delivery charge, which covered the cost of using self-employed delivery drivers. Customers quickly found they could choose One Stop for their weekly shop, as we had the range and choice at a good price.”
Adeil was definitely ahead of the curve when it came to partnering with Snappy Shoppers and he has established himself with his customers and new customers as a primary location to use for home deliveries. Whilst Adeil might have been ahead of the curve by introducing deliveries as a convenience retailer, the pandemic acted as a catalyst for home deliveries to become a staple requirement. The Motherwell store went live with Snappy Shoppers on February 4th 2020, at the time when talk of the pandemic was building and the model instantly proved successful.
Continuing, Adeil explains: “During the first lockdown customers couldn’t get slots from the larger supermarkets but with us they discovered they could get the same products for the same price and all delivered within an hour, often with a cheaper delivery cost!”
“We went from four deliveries in week one, to eight, then to 16 and by the time we went into lockdown in March we had over 50 deliveries a day,” explains Adeil. “It’s just boomed and we now have about 135 deliveries a day and growing!”
John Miller, Head of Franchise comments: “Adeil’s One Stop in Motherwell is a real success story for online shopping, this proves how well the One Stop range and offers stand out from other competitors. With the growth it shows how convenient shopping on the app is for customers that are up to 4-5 miles away from the store and how well people can tailor our franchise model to find solutions to meet the needs of their customers and store’s demographics.
“We have seen such an enormous change in the market during the past year, which has changed shopping habits long term. These changes provide massive opportunities for franchisees to not only serve current customers differently, but to attract new customers to shop there often. This provides real opportunities for franchise businesses and at One Stop we’re committed to working with each store, on an individual basis to help facilitate new initiatives. When we look post lockdown there will undoubtedly be customer that will continue to shop at Motherwell in the future. We continue to add each week franchisees looking to serve this untapped potential that reaches new customer and will help grow sales and profitability of their business.”
Jim Carroll our Scottish BDM who commented: “I’ve spent 40 years working with independent retailers and wholesalers and I see the smart retailer looking for changes to grow their sales and compete in the Scottish marketplace. One Stop is different as it’s a retailer and is focused on selling products to the consumer. This model sits well with online competitive pricing.”
Unique differences in Scottish trading laws – such as the Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol – are always accounted for and promotions and supporting marketing materials are tailored to reflect different national events and holidays: “The One Stop model isn’t a ‘one size fits all’, as we appreciate the differences in regional and local markets,” explains Jim.
And what about the future, now there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel to come out of lockdown? “Consumers want convenience,” explains Adeil. “They want to make their life easier and would prefer to use online aps rather than come into store or pick-up items.”
“Home delivery is a massive avenue that convenience retailers need to tap into. With One Stop we have had the best of both worlds. We’ve had the flexibility to do what is best for our customers and area but had the support of a national retailer behind us. We projected our online retail business would account for 25% of turnover by 2023, but we’re two years ahead of this. In the three years we’ve been with One Stop our business has grown by 112% and there are so many opportunities still to explore.”
